Language
by Kikkiyoshi-Star
Summary: The past haunts us in interesting ways, and running joke can take on interesting meanings. Small spoiler warning for 'Endgame' in bonus 2.
1. Chapter 1

This has probably been done before, but I watched CA: TWS two times in as many days and this popped into my head, and I decided, why not?

Note: I make a conscious effort not to have swearing in my stories cause I just don't swear yadda, yadda. My rule of thumb is not to use a swear word unless it enhances the story, or drama or whatever. That said this story relied on casual swearing. So warning there well be swearing but "light."

Now with the show.

* * *

It all started on a routine mission.

Nothing special. Get in, get intel, save any POWs they came across, get out. They'd split into groups so were communicating via a fancy communication unit Stark had invented. Steve had just been running down some stairs and happened to lose his footing.

"Shit!" he let out grabbing the railing so he wouldn't roll down three flights.

"Language!" came Bucky's static voice over the com. "You ok?"

"Yeah, just slipped," Steve answered, furrowing his eyebrows. Nah, he'd deal with it later. "Keep going," he ordered.

By the time they were done Steve had forgotten about the incident.

Two weeks later it happened again.

Another mission, bring the base down. It was going well until it wasn't. They hadn't counted on the sheer number of Hydra Soldiers there.

"Damn it!" Steve yelled after his shield failed to return to him. A rare occurrence.

"Language!" Bucky yelled, running past with his gun blazing. He got the shield and threw it back, then went back to the battle at hand.

Two days later they were in camp, laughing about some old memory when Steve tripped over his own feet. Despite how long ago the experiment was done, Steve was still not completely used to his goliath body.

"Shit!" he cried, hitting the ground like a sack of potatoes.

"Language!" Bucky laughed, not even bothering to help Steve up.

"Why do you keep saying that?" Steve asked. "We're in the army, we all have bad language. Yours is worse than mine."

"Yeah," Bucky shrugged, "but I'm not a hero."

"What?" Steve blinked at Bucky from his now seated position. Of course Bucky was a hero. Bucky had always been a hero.

Bucky smirked. "You're an icon now, _Captain America._ Kids look up to you. Can't have you corrupting their minds with your horrible language."

Steve blinked a couple of times, not believing his friend. Was this some kind of strange punishment? Because Steve had agreed to take the serum, Bucky was now gonna make sure his language was clean? He knew Bucky w as s mad about it but this was a weird way of showing it.

Bucky's smirk grew into a smile, then a chuckle.

Oh. No, it was just Bucky being Bucky. Ok then.

Steve smiled joining in.

"You son of a bitch," Steve laughed.

"Language," Bucky chided with a smile, offering Steve his hand. "And you love my mom."

"True," Steve accepted Bucky's hand. "But I'm not always too fond of her son." With that, he pulled Bucky down into the mud beside him.

Couldn't let Bucky get away with everything.

* * *

True to his word, every time Steve let out a cuss Bucky would respond with "Language!"

Steve always rolled his eyes and went on with the mission. Every time.

Until about three weeks later while they were all sitting around a fire cracking jokes. Monty had told a particularly bad one that had Bucky laughing so hard he couldn't make any sound.

Which was funnier than the joke.

Finally, Bucky recovered and gasped, "Damn. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."

"Language," Steve called out.

Bucky looked at him, eyebrow raised. The other men watched eagerly as the old friends stared each other down.

Bucky leaned back with a smile, "You fuddy-duddy bastard."

"I'll bring out the swear jar," Steve threatened, which caused everyone to laugh.

And so it went. They'd go on missions one of them would swear, the other would call them out on it. Whenever Steve reprimanded Bucky, Bucky would proceed to say worse swear words.

The rest of the Commandos had two running lists. One of who got called out more, and another for how many times "Language!" was heard in one mission.

The record was 225.

That had been a very rough mission. All you could hear over the radio was a cuss then "Language!" Another cuss. "Language!" Truth be told they all lost track on that one.

Also, Steve called out Bucky more than Bucky called out Steve. But just barely.

They were actually tied before that final mission. When Bucky fell and Steve stopped smiling.

Dum Dum hid the lists and Steve never asked about them.

* * *

It was routine for the Avengers.

Use your talents. Take out the bad guys. Work together.

Steve forgot.

Missions like this were so similar to the war. And Bucky was still on his mind. Bucky was alive.

Steve wasn't even sure what had happened. Something didn't go Stark's way he heard it over the com.

"Shit!"

"Language!" It was 1945. Bucky had stubbed his toe or missed a shot. Next Bucky would call him a bastard or drop an F-bomb.

But in the next second Steve remembered where he was. It was 2015. Bucky wasn't here. He didn't know where Bucky was. He pushed those feelings away and continued, "JARVIS, what's the view from upstairs?"

The electronic voice answered, "The central building is protected by some kind of energy shield. Strucker's technology is well beyond any other Hydra base we've taken."

"Loki's scepter must be here," Thor agreed "Strucker couldn't mount this defense without it. At long last."

"At long last is lasting a little long, boys," Natasha quipped.

"Yeah. I think we lost the element of surprise," Clint added.

"Wait a second," Tony cut in, "No one else is going to deal with the fact that Cap just said 'language?'"

"I know," Steve groaned. How could he explain it was a joke between him and Bucky in a second? How could he tell them that he had gotten lost in the past on the heat of battle without sounding crazy?

How could he lead this team when all he wanted was Bucky fighting at his side again?

He flipped throwing the motorcycle he'd been riding at a jeep. "It just slipped out," he almost whispered.


	2. Chapter 2

So this was the original ending I had planned and the story was just gonna be one chapter. But then I wrote it and I got to the end of the Age of Ultron part and I was like, no, that's where it needs to end. But I still liked this idea. So call this an end credit scene.

Also note, this part is currently AU, and depending on what they do with the movies may remain so.

Onward!

* * *

It was a routine quiet day in the complex.

Everyone doing their own thing, hanging out, training, spending time on hobbies. Steve was in the common area with Tony, Natasha, Clint, Thor, and Bruce, playing a card game.

"Five nines," Tony placed the cards down.

"BS!" both Clint and Natasha accused.

Tony grumbled as he took the stack, glaringly and organizing the cards. "Oh, come on! Cap totally lied about the two sixes!"

"Gotta make it believable," Steve shrugged, nodding to Bucky, who'd just wandered in.

"Hey Barnes," Tony greeted, "We're playing BS, you want in? You can have half my cards."

"No," Bucky answered, retrieving a notebook he'd left out last night.

He was still adjusting to being trusted and treated like a human outside of Wakanda. Which would be much easier if the media would shut up. But leaving his notebooks around the compound was progress.

He sat down on the couch, watching the game as he wrote down whatever he'd remembered.

"Twelve tens," Natasha placed her cards down.

"Hang on," Tony looked through his stack.

"Try me," Natasha smirked.

When Tony was satisfied Clint put in, "Five Jacks."

"Two Queens," Steve placed the cards down. He was almost out of cards, three left. One more go around and he might win this.

"Bullshit," Bucky called.

They all looked at him, except for Steve who just called. "Language."

Bucky leaned forward and waited until Steve innocently met his eyes.

"Bullshit, you fuddy-duddy bastard."

Steve laughed and took his three and jack back, along with Natasha and Clint's cards, who had both lied of course.

"You're a bastard Buck, I was winning."

"Language, you lying punk," Buck smiled, going back to writing about the first time his mother had caught the two of them swearing.

He could almost taste the soap.


	3. Chapter 3

First: Small spoiler warning if you haven't seen _Avengers Endgame._ This story had been originally planned as a one-shot and has escaped me. I have one more bonus chapter written that will be posted soon. After that, I don't know. If I think of anything else, I'll add it. Anyways, enjoy.

* * *

Bonus 2

Bucky watched Sam with the shield. He was working at it, trying to learn the tricks Steve had perfected. The problem was it was much harder then Steve made it look.

"Gah!" Sam called out. "Stupid thing. Ok. One more time. I can do this."

He held the shield, eyed the targets, three x's, and threw it. The shield bounced off one, hit the wrong wall, and would have smashed through a glass door if Sam hadn't broken it earlier.

"DAMN IT!"

"Language!" Bucky called.

Sam looked back at him, raising an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"

"You're Captain America now," Bucky stepped forward, taking a sip of his coffee. "You're a national icon. You can't have language like that."

"Buck, Cap was a soldier. He had a damn potty mouth."

"Well I tried to help him break that habit, but," Bucky shrugged, "He'd just call me out on my language." He looked off into the distance, remembering years ago. Not everything, just the few sporadic things he could.

" _You son of a bitch," Steve laughed._

" _Language."_

" _Damn. I haven't laughed that hard in a long time."_

" _Language."_

" _You fuddy-duddy bastard."_

" _I'll bring out the swear jar."_

"You miss him?" Sam asked.

"Yes," Bucky admitted. "But I'm happy for that shit head."

"Language," Sam clapped him on the back. "Now, you gonna show me how to do this move or laugh at me some more."

"Hell no," Bucky walked away. "You're on your f-ing own."

"Bastard." Sam laughed, retrieving his shield.


	4. Chapter 4

Prepare for feels.

* * *

Bonus 3

It was an accident. He hadn't been looking for it. He hadn't thought about it in years.

He'd been wandering through the Captain America section of the Smithsonian with Shuri and Romonda. It was therapeutic in a way, trying to remember old stories and recount them to his new family. Shuri was enjoying asking Bucky any random question that came to her mind.

"What color were Captain America's socks?"

"How did Dum Dum get his nickname?"

"Why was it called the 'Steve's worst plan ever' mission?"

"It's impressive," the dowager queen cut off one of her daughter's questions. "They have the names of so many missions, even if they don't have the details."

"Yeah. Most of these were our names for them though. These weren't official."

"Well, that would explain why one is called 'Captain Becomes the Human Touch,'" Shuri laughed.

Bucky smiled. "His suit caught on fire."

"Excuse me," Romonda stopped a worker. "How did you get all these mission names?"

"Oh! The Howling Commandos wrote them in a notebook," the worker explained.

"A notebook?" Bucky asked. Something was trying to push forward, an old memory.

"Yeah," the worker's eyes had brightened. "All that's in there is the names with numbers by them. And on the first page is written Captain America and Bucky with a bunch of tally marks under the names. No one knows what they mean. It's one of the biggest mysteries. None of the Commandos would ever talk about it."

"Can I see it?" Bucky asked.

The worker looked concerned. "Oh… I don't think…." Then he took a good look at Bucky. " Wait a minute. You're..!"

"Yes," Romonda stopped him. "Now can you ask if we can see the book?"

The worker hurried off, returning quickly to whisk them off to the archives.

Bucky knew the notebook the moment he saw it. It had been Steve's, a gift sent by a fan. Dum Dum had confiscated it to start keeping track of their running joke.

He reverently flipped through the pages. They were there. Bucky's Sick Day. No Shield Captain.

And there was one that was just the f-bomb five times with 225? written by it. He chuckled and turned the page. All too quickly he found the last entry. It was one of the few times they'd given the mission a name ahead of time.

The Big One.

There was no number beside it.

It was only when a drop of water hit the paper that he realized he was crying. "Shit. Sorry." He stepped back. "That's a relic now. Damn it. I'm sorry."

Romonda pulled him into a hug.

Shuri put a gentle hand on his shoulder, whispering softly, "Language."


End file.
